It says that Yaakov departed from Beer Sheva and went to Charan.
Although it would have been sufficient to say that he went to Charan, Rashi explains it tells of Yaakov’s departure from Beer Sheva to teach that a tzadik’s departure from a place leaves a void. As long as he is in the city, he constitutes its glory, splendor and beauty and when he departs, the glory, splendor and beauty depart with him.
The Ohr Gedalyahu offers a novel explanation, beginning with the question of how do you serve Hashem when you leave the walls of Beis Midrash. This can be explained by man surviving on the moon. The astronauts who traveled to the moon had to adapt to the environment there. How did they do this? They survived there because they brought with them objects from earth such as oxygen, food and spacesuits in order to sustain gravity. To survive spiritually in Charan after being surrounded by kedusha in Beer Sheva where he learned and was around his holy parents, Yaakov took the kedusha required. Now that he was going to Lavan and Besuel, he brought the glory, splendor and beauty along with him. This is what is meant in Rashi when he says that when Yaakov departed, the glory, splendor and beauty departed with him, meaning he took it along with him to spiritually survive in his new environment in Charan.
Rabbi Alt merited to learn under the tutelage of R’ Mordechai Friedlander ztz”l for close to five years. He received semicha from R’ Zalman Nechemia Goldberg ztz”l. Rabbi Alt has written on numerous topics for various websites and publications and is the author of six books including the recently released Dazzling Money Insights. His writings, some of which have been translated into Yiddish, Hebrew, German and French, inspire people across the spectrum of Jewish observance to live with the vibrancy and beauty of Torah. He lives with his wife and family in Kiryat Yearim (where the Aron was for 20 years [Shmuel 1, 7:1,2]) where he studies, writes and teaches. The author is passionate about teaching Jews of all levels of observance.
Interestingly, among the numerous Shabbos guests we’ve hosted during their year in Israel was a seminary girl who stayed and ate by us. It turned out, as she revealed to us, that she was Dave’s daughter. She filled me in on some of the details of this story.
Bamidbar 21:34.
After the Ten Commandments it says (Devarim 5:19) Hashem spoke all those words to the entire congregation on the mountain, from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick cloud, a great voice never to be repeated (kol gadol v’lo yasaf). Targum Onkolos on the words v’lo yasaf comments v’la psak, did not stop. Unlike humans who are unable to speak all their words in one breath, Hashem did not stop for breath (Devarim 5:19, Rashi). Another interpretation given is that the word of Hashem continues throughout the generations. Every generation and each person is different and the word of Hashem talks to each accordingly.
Breishis 28:10.
